“If there really is a spy, it would be good to use him as a messenger when there is something I really want to tell His Majesty.”
At those words, Sir Bernardino and Sir Manfredi laughed, but Alfonso remained gloomy.
For this very moment, Ariadne could read her husband's mind like an open book. Alfonso was uncomfortable with the very notion that his biological father had planted a spy in him.
It takes a long time to recognize your family as your enemy. And it's a painful process. Having experienced it firsthand, she offered these words of comfort to Alfonso.
“And, there’s no guarantee that there will be a spy, right?”
Alfonso's expression brightened for a moment.
“His Majesty may have considered the opportunity to spite his son more important than planting a spy among him.”
It was a typical, logical, and rational consolation. Alfonso, unable to hide his heavy heart, gave a hollow laugh.
“Is that what you call comfort now?”
Ariadne just blinked. Should she have asked, "Are you upset? Are you okay?"
But Alfonso put his arm around his wife's shoulder. He bent his head and whispered in Ariadne's ear.
"Fool."
His wife, who had never heard such words before, looked at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. Her face was so cute that it lifted his spirits.
Besides, perhaps because the speaker was so charming, even such words felt strangely comforting. It was easier to accept that his father was sulking and throwing a tantrum than that he had planted a spy in him.
Sir Bernardino muttered, exhausted.
“It is true that taking away all the palace maids is a bit of a slap in the face.”
Those were the words of the one who had suffered the most. Sir Manfredi, who had suffered relatively less, nodded and added his approval.
“If there really weren’t any left, the Prince would have had to rely on us to take care of his bath.”
“I guess this is something Manfredi is in charge of?”
Sir Manfredi looked at Sir Bernardino in horror.
“Oh, why are you making me do that!”
“The person who brought it up should take responsibility.”
Prince Alfonso answered lazily while Sir Manfredi smacked his own snout with his hand.
“Why are you doing this when you’ve seen all the ugly things in Yesak?”
By coincidence, Prince Alfonso happened to lick his lips at that very moment. Sir Manfredi was truly appalled.
“I, I... If I join the Taranto line now, will that be considered desertion?”
“Hahahahahaha!”
Alfonso burst into laughter at the sight of Sir Manfredi's pale face. Thanks to this, Alfonso's mood lightened, and the atmosphere brightened for a moment.
“Prince, were you teasing me on purpose?!”
Sir Manfredi protested with a tearful face.
“Oh, there are ladies here too, aren’t you going too far!”
He felt ashamed in front of a noble lady like Ariadne. And besides, there was a mountain goat next to him. His face flushed.
Sancha, who felt Sir Manfredi's gaze on her, answered calmly.
“It’s okay. I think I’ve already seen enough of the things I don’t like about you.”
The face of the young knight with black hair grew redder and redder, turning into a black and red pirate flag.
Sancha was not interested in Sir Manfredi at all, but was rather worried about Sir Dino's condition.
“Are you okay? I know you couldn’t sleep at all last night.”
Sir Dino answered kindly.
“Thank you for your concern, Miss Sancha. I can still hold out.”
In fact, it was a reply that was delivered with the utmost chivalry. Sleep deprivation had left his speech on the verge of slurring.
Prince Alfonso ordered the Department of General Affairs to ignore the movement of the palace attendants and pretend not to know anything about it. However, Sir Bernardino could not ignore the people he was working with.
“If we don’t allocate even a small portion, we won’t be able to ride a horse-drawn carriage and will have to walk all the way to Taranto...”
“No, isn’t that just too petty from a human perspective?”
Sir Manfredi was dumbfounded. Ariadne answered calmly.
“Didn’t you know that His Majesty was petty?”
“...”
Sir Manfredi remained silent, at a loss for words. If he had to choose the most petty person he knew, it would have to be Leo III.
Alfonso, too, was tempted. He couldn't bring himself to defend his father on this point. This was especially true because of the task the King had left behind.
The task left behind by Leo III was none other than cleaning the palace.
The King, like a wicked stepmother in a fairy tale, gave the order, "Keep Palagio Carlo tidy until I return," and departed south. This was precisely what Sir Manfredi had been worried about earlier, asking the Knights to do.
Palace cleaning was a massive undertaking, usually leaving about 30% of the palace staff behind to clear mountains of trash that piled up to the ceiling.
It was a medieval method of solving problems by hand due to the lack of a regular waste disposal system or water and sewage system.
“Ha. Do I have to carry a shovel and dig up mountains of trash all winter?”
Sir Manfredi began to seriously suspect that he hadn't truly been promoted from a knight to a mercenary. Shouldn't they at least be given a formal promotion order? Then he should have run away before receiving it!
“Before you worry about that, tonight is the problem right now.”
The mountain tea has brought the worries of men fixed in the distant future into the present.
“The general affairs department even took away all the cooks.”
Sir Manfredi jumped up.
“Yes? We should eat!”
Humans are all about food! We have to eat!
Should I go out to the Knights' main camp outside the castle to eat? Oh, and what I eat there is essentially just noodles.
Then Ariadne soothed his worries.
“You might have to just eat bread for lunch, but I’ll feed you what you usually eat for dinner.”
She thought for a moment and then added.
“Quality is not guaranteed, but quantity is.”
Sir Manfredi's eyes widened.
“Will the Princess cook?”
Alfonso's eyes widened. It wasn't because of the title "Princess." No matter what Leo III said, Ariadne was their Princess.
The problem was that "Ariadne" and "cooking" were in the same sentence. His voice lowered unusually.
“Manfredi.”
The voice itself is very low, but the ending is raised. It sounds uneasy.
Today was Sir Manfredi's day of suffering. It was a day of terrible weather. On days like this, he should be rushing to bed and going to bed early...
But Sir Manfredi soon regained his composure. Anxiety is a word that stems from the fear of the unknown, the not knowing what will come next.
Prince Alfonso's next words were probably something along the lines of, "Do you want to run 40 laps around the parade ground?" There was no need to be anxious. Just run.
“...Shall we go to the parade ground now?”
Sir Manfredi pondered. If he ran to the parade ground before the Prince ordered him to, wouldn't the Prince forgive him if he finished 30 laps instead of 40?
Fortunately, at that moment, Ariadne came to the rescue of poor Sir Manfredi.
“How can I feed all these people by myself?”
In addition to the thirty unbelievable men who had already been in the palace, key staff members such as Alfonso, Ariadne, Sir Bernardino, Sir Manfredi, and Sancha remained, along with other knightly officials and messengers. It was far too many for the women of the bar, who were not professional chefs, to feed.
“Just bring the people from de Mare Mansion.”
"Ah."
Alfonso was delighted.
“That’s right, Ari. I was worried all along.”
The appointment of a new Cardinal from Trevero was being delayed. It was speculated that the recent war of nerves between Trevero and the Kingdom of Gallico was the cause of the delay.
Thanks to this, Ariadne was making the most of the mansion de Mare, but a new Cardinal would arrive at San Carlo at any moment, and the mansion would have to be vacated. At that point, she was deeply troubled by the question of what to do with the people she had under her care.
If they were to establish a new base and move there, she would have to maintain a surplus of manpower while also having to feed the Knights Templar. And if she were to send them all away, she would be destroying, with her own hands, a well-functioning organization she had worked so hard to build.
Alfonso stroked his wife's arm.
“It actually turned out well.”
But then, just as Leo III had vacated the palace, Alfonso was surprised to discover that his father could be of help. With a major headache now gone, Ariadne spoke cheerfully.
“We need people anyway, so let’s send a messenger now and have everyone in the mansion come.”
Alfonso smiled. He loved anything that brought a smile to his woman's face.
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
The Palagio Carlo was now an empty building. It had been overused for three seasons, leaving the building and gardens littered with trash.
Since Leo III had given the order, there was a perfect justification for bringing in new people, and if they came in at this empty time, they wouldn't have to fight with the existing organization over the division of labor.
Just working without worrying about what others thought. It was a dream come true for someone who loved to work. Ariadne smiled broadly.
“Come on! Get in line!”
Sir Manfredi, who was leading the charge and supervising the entry of the de Mare family's servants into Palagio Carlo, raised his voice, but there was no need to speak so loudly.
While not as skilled as the palace staff, the de Mare family's servants were more well-trained than those of San Carlo, or indeed any other noble family in the Central Continent. This was due to their five years of solid training under Ariadne, who had overseen the palace in her previous life.
If we were to find something that they lacked compared to the palace servants, it would be that the de Mare family members were not yet familiar with the Palazzo Carlo, and that the pool of people entering the clergy's residence was inferior to that of those entering the palace.
However, an organization that worked together over a long period of time proved to be more powerful than the sum of its individual parts. With a proper chain of command, they worked seamlessly together.
Sir Manfredi shouted.
“Let’s start with the kitchen part!”
Dinner was an important affair, even if Sir Manfredi's personal preferences were not taken into account.
The chef and kitchen staff of the de Mare Mansion, along with various cooking utensils and ingredients, were the first to arrive at the palace. Feeding them, along with the original de Mare family's few hundred servants, was no small task.
But... even the competent staff found the state of Palagio Carlo’s kitchen to be rather dire.
“Uh... Seriously, they only took the pot and the ingredients and left everything else behind?”
The young assistant chef looked at the chef with a face that seemed to ask what to do about this.
A pork bone with only half the meat removed.
Bread that was twisted and dried, but somehow managed to grow mold.
Cheese with someone's teeth marks on it.
Rotten vegetables.
And all of that was mixed together, the fermented mass piled up so high that the kitchen floor was completely obscured. The chef was speechless, just looking around the kitchen.
Although it was common practice in this era to have people remain in the palace immediately after the 'winter move', the fact that things went this way was due to the complete lack of consideration shown by Grand Duchess Rubina and the General Affairs Department.
Ariadne wanted to lead the way, but Sancha stepped forward first.
"Yes! Not just the kitchen staff, but also the cleaning and security staff, everyone comes in! Grab your shovels and dig!"
She was quite skilled. Ariadne looked at Sancha with a surprised expression. Sancha winked at Ariadne, her light green eyes narrowing. She whispered.
“Miss, no, the Princess doesn’t have time for this kind of thing anymore.”
Sancha said with a hearty laugh.
“So, leave this stuff to me. Go ahead and do something big.”
Sancha pushed Ariadne out of the kitchen and shouted loudly.
"Come on! If you just crowd it into one corner, the traffic will get tangled! Who wants to just dig it up with a shovel and take it outside? Bring a cart! We'll put it inside and replace it when it's full! Go ahead!"
Ariadne, who was pushed out of the kitchen by Sancha, stood alone for a moment and pondered what could be a 'bigger task' than managing the household.
'What on earth can only I do?'
But Ariadne soon realized that there were many things she had to do.
While the remaining members of Palagio Carlo were happily working amidst the rubbish, the group heading down to Taranto experienced all the nerve wars that one would expect on a luxurious trip.
“There. The seat with the cushion is Countess Contarini’s seat.”
At those words, Sir Bernardino and Sir Manfredi laughed, but Alfonso remained gloomy.
For this very moment, Ariadne could read her husband's mind like an open book. Alfonso was uncomfortable with the very notion that his biological father had planted a spy in him.
It takes a long time to recognize your family as your enemy. And it's a painful process. Having experienced it firsthand, she offered these words of comfort to Alfonso.
“And, there’s no guarantee that there will be a spy, right?”
Alfonso's expression brightened for a moment.
“His Majesty may have considered the opportunity to spite his son more important than planting a spy among him.”
It was a typical, logical, and rational consolation. Alfonso, unable to hide his heavy heart, gave a hollow laugh.
“Is that what you call comfort now?”
Ariadne just blinked. Should she have asked, "Are you upset? Are you okay?"
But Alfonso put his arm around his wife's shoulder. He bent his head and whispered in Ariadne's ear.
"Fool."
His wife, who had never heard such words before, looked at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. Her face was so cute that it lifted his spirits.
Besides, perhaps because the speaker was so charming, even such words felt strangely comforting. It was easier to accept that his father was sulking and throwing a tantrum than that he had planted a spy in him.
Sir Bernardino muttered, exhausted.
“It is true that taking away all the palace maids is a bit of a slap in the face.”
Those were the words of the one who had suffered the most. Sir Manfredi, who had suffered relatively less, nodded and added his approval.
“If there really weren’t any left, the Prince would have had to rely on us to take care of his bath.”
“I guess this is something Manfredi is in charge of?”
Sir Manfredi looked at Sir Bernardino in horror.
“Oh, why are you making me do that!”
“The person who brought it up should take responsibility.”
Prince Alfonso answered lazily while Sir Manfredi smacked his own snout with his hand.
“Why are you doing this when you’ve seen all the ugly things in Yesak?”
By coincidence, Prince Alfonso happened to lick his lips at that very moment. Sir Manfredi was truly appalled.
“I, I... If I join the Taranto line now, will that be considered desertion?”
“Hahahahahaha!”
Alfonso burst into laughter at the sight of Sir Manfredi's pale face. Thanks to this, Alfonso's mood lightened, and the atmosphere brightened for a moment.
“Prince, were you teasing me on purpose?!”
Sir Manfredi protested with a tearful face.
“Oh, there are ladies here too, aren’t you going too far!”
He felt ashamed in front of a noble lady like Ariadne. And besides, there was a mountain goat next to him. His face flushed.
Sancha, who felt Sir Manfredi's gaze on her, answered calmly.
“It’s okay. I think I’ve already seen enough of the things I don’t like about you.”
The face of the young knight with black hair grew redder and redder, turning into a black and red pirate flag.
Sancha was not interested in Sir Manfredi at all, but was rather worried about Sir Dino's condition.
“Are you okay? I know you couldn’t sleep at all last night.”
Sir Dino answered kindly.
“Thank you for your concern, Miss Sancha. I can still hold out.”
In fact, it was a reply that was delivered with the utmost chivalry. Sleep deprivation had left his speech on the verge of slurring.
Prince Alfonso ordered the Department of General Affairs to ignore the movement of the palace attendants and pretend not to know anything about it. However, Sir Bernardino could not ignore the people he was working with.
“If we don’t allocate even a small portion, we won’t be able to ride a horse-drawn carriage and will have to walk all the way to Taranto...”
“No, isn’t that just too petty from a human perspective?”
Sir Manfredi was dumbfounded. Ariadne answered calmly.
“Didn’t you know that His Majesty was petty?”
“...”
Sir Manfredi remained silent, at a loss for words. If he had to choose the most petty person he knew, it would have to be Leo III.
Alfonso, too, was tempted. He couldn't bring himself to defend his father on this point. This was especially true because of the task the King had left behind.
The task left behind by Leo III was none other than cleaning the palace.
The King, like a wicked stepmother in a fairy tale, gave the order, "Keep Palagio Carlo tidy until I return," and departed south. This was precisely what Sir Manfredi had been worried about earlier, asking the Knights to do.
Palace cleaning was a massive undertaking, usually leaving about 30% of the palace staff behind to clear mountains of trash that piled up to the ceiling.
It was a medieval method of solving problems by hand due to the lack of a regular waste disposal system or water and sewage system.
“Ha. Do I have to carry a shovel and dig up mountains of trash all winter?”
Sir Manfredi began to seriously suspect that he hadn't truly been promoted from a knight to a mercenary. Shouldn't they at least be given a formal promotion order? Then he should have run away before receiving it!
“Before you worry about that, tonight is the problem right now.”
The mountain tea has brought the worries of men fixed in the distant future into the present.
“The general affairs department even took away all the cooks.”
Sir Manfredi jumped up.
“Yes? We should eat!”
Humans are all about food! We have to eat!
Should I go out to the Knights' main camp outside the castle to eat? Oh, and what I eat there is essentially just noodles.
Then Ariadne soothed his worries.
“You might have to just eat bread for lunch, but I’ll feed you what you usually eat for dinner.”
She thought for a moment and then added.
“Quality is not guaranteed, but quantity is.”
Sir Manfredi's eyes widened.
“Will the Princess cook?”
Alfonso's eyes widened. It wasn't because of the title "Princess." No matter what Leo III said, Ariadne was their Princess.
The problem was that "Ariadne" and "cooking" were in the same sentence. His voice lowered unusually.
“Manfredi.”
The voice itself is very low, but the ending is raised. It sounds uneasy.
Today was Sir Manfredi's day of suffering. It was a day of terrible weather. On days like this, he should be rushing to bed and going to bed early...
But Sir Manfredi soon regained his composure. Anxiety is a word that stems from the fear of the unknown, the not knowing what will come next.
Prince Alfonso's next words were probably something along the lines of, "Do you want to run 40 laps around the parade ground?" There was no need to be anxious. Just run.
“...Shall we go to the parade ground now?”
Sir Manfredi pondered. If he ran to the parade ground before the Prince ordered him to, wouldn't the Prince forgive him if he finished 30 laps instead of 40?
Fortunately, at that moment, Ariadne came to the rescue of poor Sir Manfredi.
“How can I feed all these people by myself?”
In addition to the thirty unbelievable men who had already been in the palace, key staff members such as Alfonso, Ariadne, Sir Bernardino, Sir Manfredi, and Sancha remained, along with other knightly officials and messengers. It was far too many for the women of the bar, who were not professional chefs, to feed.
“Just bring the people from de Mare Mansion.”
"Ah."
Alfonso was delighted.
“That’s right, Ari. I was worried all along.”
The appointment of a new Cardinal from Trevero was being delayed. It was speculated that the recent war of nerves between Trevero and the Kingdom of Gallico was the cause of the delay.
Thanks to this, Ariadne was making the most of the mansion de Mare, but a new Cardinal would arrive at San Carlo at any moment, and the mansion would have to be vacated. At that point, she was deeply troubled by the question of what to do with the people she had under her care.
If they were to establish a new base and move there, she would have to maintain a surplus of manpower while also having to feed the Knights Templar. And if she were to send them all away, she would be destroying, with her own hands, a well-functioning organization she had worked so hard to build.
Alfonso stroked his wife's arm.
“It actually turned out well.”
But then, just as Leo III had vacated the palace, Alfonso was surprised to discover that his father could be of help. With a major headache now gone, Ariadne spoke cheerfully.
“We need people anyway, so let’s send a messenger now and have everyone in the mansion come.”
Alfonso smiled. He loved anything that brought a smile to his woman's face.
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
The Palagio Carlo was now an empty building. It had been overused for three seasons, leaving the building and gardens littered with trash.
Since Leo III had given the order, there was a perfect justification for bringing in new people, and if they came in at this empty time, they wouldn't have to fight with the existing organization over the division of labor.
Just working without worrying about what others thought. It was a dream come true for someone who loved to work. Ariadne smiled broadly.
***
“Come on! Get in line!”
Sir Manfredi, who was leading the charge and supervising the entry of the de Mare family's servants into Palagio Carlo, raised his voice, but there was no need to speak so loudly.
While not as skilled as the palace staff, the de Mare family's servants were more well-trained than those of San Carlo, or indeed any other noble family in the Central Continent. This was due to their five years of solid training under Ariadne, who had overseen the palace in her previous life.
If we were to find something that they lacked compared to the palace servants, it would be that the de Mare family members were not yet familiar with the Palazzo Carlo, and that the pool of people entering the clergy's residence was inferior to that of those entering the palace.
However, an organization that worked together over a long period of time proved to be more powerful than the sum of its individual parts. With a proper chain of command, they worked seamlessly together.
Sir Manfredi shouted.
“Let’s start with the kitchen part!”
Dinner was an important affair, even if Sir Manfredi's personal preferences were not taken into account.
The chef and kitchen staff of the de Mare Mansion, along with various cooking utensils and ingredients, were the first to arrive at the palace. Feeding them, along with the original de Mare family's few hundred servants, was no small task.
But... even the competent staff found the state of Palagio Carlo’s kitchen to be rather dire.
“Uh... Seriously, they only took the pot and the ingredients and left everything else behind?”
The young assistant chef looked at the chef with a face that seemed to ask what to do about this.
A pork bone with only half the meat removed.
Bread that was twisted and dried, but somehow managed to grow mold.
Cheese with someone's teeth marks on it.
Rotten vegetables.
And all of that was mixed together, the fermented mass piled up so high that the kitchen floor was completely obscured. The chef was speechless, just looking around the kitchen.
Although it was common practice in this era to have people remain in the palace immediately after the 'winter move', the fact that things went this way was due to the complete lack of consideration shown by Grand Duchess Rubina and the General Affairs Department.
Ariadne wanted to lead the way, but Sancha stepped forward first.
"Yes! Not just the kitchen staff, but also the cleaning and security staff, everyone comes in! Grab your shovels and dig!"
She was quite skilled. Ariadne looked at Sancha with a surprised expression. Sancha winked at Ariadne, her light green eyes narrowing. She whispered.
“Miss, no, the Princess doesn’t have time for this kind of thing anymore.”
Sancha said with a hearty laugh.
“So, leave this stuff to me. Go ahead and do something big.”
Sancha pushed Ariadne out of the kitchen and shouted loudly.
"Come on! If you just crowd it into one corner, the traffic will get tangled! Who wants to just dig it up with a shovel and take it outside? Bring a cart! We'll put it inside and replace it when it's full! Go ahead!"
Ariadne, who was pushed out of the kitchen by Sancha, stood alone for a moment and pondered what could be a 'bigger task' than managing the household.
'What on earth can only I do?'
But Ariadne soon realized that there were many things she had to do.
***
While the remaining members of Palagio Carlo were happily working amidst the rubbish, the group heading down to Taranto experienced all the nerve wars that one would expect on a luxurious trip.
“There. The seat with the cushion is Countess Contarini’s seat.”
Thank you very much
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